Petition to extend voting hours in Champaign Co. after technical difficulties withdrawn

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, Ill. (WAND) - A petition filed to extend the voting hours in Champaign County after the county experienced technical difficulties in processing votes Tuesday morning has been withdrawn.

The Champaign County Clerk's Office posted to Facebook that they are now able to process voters throughout Champaign County after experiencing problems in the first few hours polls were open.

The Champaign County State’s Attorney’s Office had filed a Motion for Injunctive Relief in Champaign County Court requesting that the voting hours in Champaign County at all polling places be extended to 9:00 p.m. to compensate for the hours that voters could not vote this morning due to "connectivity issues with the County’s election services vendor. "

A public hearing was scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in courtroom F in front of Judge Ben Dyer.

WAND News has learned that petition to extend voting hours has been withdrawn. Polls will close as previously planned at 7 p.m.

The State's Attorney told WAND News after researching, officials believe anyone voting after 7 p.m. would have been counted as a provisional ballot, which would take longer to get results. Provisional ballots get 14 days to be counted.

The Champaign County Clerk's Office said they experienced "technical difficulties" processing voters in the first few hours the polls were open.

Specific details about what issues voters faced has not been detailed. An email to the clerk's office yielded a response that was publicly posted on the clerk's Facebook page.

"Other counties are also reporting the same issues not being able to process voters/system is down," the office posted on Facebook. Sangamon County reported issues in processing same day voter registration by machine, but said they are still able to process same day registration by paper at polling locations or the county building.

WAND News spoke with Macon County Clerk Josh Tanner. He said Macon County did experience some issues with tabulators not booting up, but the issue has been resolved. He said most machines were fixed prior to the polls opening. Some had to be resolved after polls opened, but everything is running smoothly now.